Handybook changes name to Handy, reaches 150 employees

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Since launching its on-demand cleaning and handyman service in Boston in mid-2012, Handybook has expanded to 28 cities and 150 employees. Today, the New York-based company, which still maintains a Boston office, has changed its name to Handy in an effort to become an even bigger player in the “Uberification” of the economy.

The move follows the company’s $30 million funding round in June, from investors including General Catalyst Partners of Cambridge.

Most of Handy’s employees are in New York, where the startup moved after launching out of Harvard Business School and initially starting up in Boston. The company has four people working out of an office near Downtown Crossing.

The company’s staff of 150 is up from about 20 employees a year ago at this time, said Oisin Hanrahan, chief executive and co-founder of the firm.

Hanrahan said the name Handybook was confusing to some consumers — “they didn’t get the book part” — and the company has been trying to figure out how to “build an iconic brand that breaks above the noise … an Uber- or Airbnb-like brand.”

Kyle Alspach has worked in journalism in Massachusetts since 2005 and was one of the original staff writers at BetaBoston.
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